


Barefoot in the Grass

by Merixcil



Series: Advent Fics 2019 [17]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26482297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merixcil/pseuds/Merixcil
Summary: Rose enjoys the wonders of winter and Pearl's just along for the ride
Relationships: Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)
Series: Advent Fics 2019 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916806





	Barefoot in the Grass

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: [Perfect by Ed Sheeran](Perfect%20by%20Ed%20Sheeran)  
> 

The planet changed, day by day and year by year. Things grew and died and were reborn, the grass emerging from underneath a blanket of snow when the Earth leaned close enough to the sun for the cold season to thaw. It was all very inconvenient, having to adjust themselves to the seemingly boundless whims of an unchecked environment. 

“Look!” Rose hurried ahead down the path they had managed to track through the woods. The snow was deep around them, taking a typically vibrant stretch of land and turning it black and white. Even the local lifeforms, what little of them could stand to stick their heads out of their burrows in this weather, had been whittled down to the black flying ones and little else. 

Pearl walked a little faster, trying to catch up to Rose. Behind her, Garnet was watching the snow fall like it hadn’t done the same thing for a quarter of a year every year since they got here. It was the Sapphire in her, probably. Sapphires always did like ice. 

“What is it, Rose?” Pearl leaned in close to Rose, so that one cheek brushed against the other's hair, so soft and thick. Pink had invented that for Rose Quartzes, the hair that was actually nice to touch. Pearl was forever finding excuses to get her hands on it. 

“This plant!” Rose said, breathless, pointing to a shiny green bush peppered with little red berries. “It’s not dead. It’s thriving!”

“Plenty of plants don’t die in the cold.” Pearl pointed out. The trees they were walking between had put themselves into stasis till the weather got warmer, but there were woods a little south of here that stayed green all through the season. 

Rose didn’t appear to hear Peal, however. This wasn’t exactly a problem seeing as how she pulled Pearl into an excited hug, lifting her clean off the ground and spinning her round. “Oh Pearl, isn’t it wonderful how the life on this planet survives against all odds?”

“Yes?” Pearl still wasn’t entirely sure that she had an opinion on the matter, but it was delightful to see Rose so happy at the resilience of non-gem life. 

“I wonder if the berries taste good.” Rose said, putting Pearl down with a moderate amount of care and leaning in to pluck a handful of berries off the bush. She pushed them into her mouth, doing that weird jaw movement that things that eating always made her do, swallowed and shook her head. “They don’t.”

As far as Pearl was concerned, there was nothing in the whole Galaxy that might be thought of as tasting good. She eyed the little red berries suspiciously, and just as soon as Rose went rushing off to tell Garnet of her discovery, she moved with her. 

“I wonder what else is still alive.” Rose mused, having stuck out her tongue to reveal the remains of the red paste staining it. 

Garnet’s head cocked to the side. “Many things are alive.”

It looked like Rose could burst with excitement. “Like what?”

“These trees.” Garnet pointed to the dead trunks all around them. “And the life forms hibernating below the ground. And the grass below the snow.”

“The grass?” Rose lifted the hem of her skirts to show her foot, still without anything to cover it, and dug her toes into the snow. 

It must have been cold, but Rose didn’t flinch. Her foot sunk through the snow practically up to the heel before she gasped, and laughing kicked it away. “Look!”

It was rather brown, and sad, and damp looking. But it was very hard to argue that the thing at the bottom of the hole was not grass. “Oh, look at that.” Pearl smiled, trying her hardest to pretend that this was remotely interesting to her. 

“And will it grow again?” Rose once more set her attentions on Garnet.

Garnet nodded. “Of course. All this will grow when the snow has passed.”

As if a dead planet were any different from a living one. But Rose smiled, patted down the snow and ran back off into the woods in search of more life forms that might survive this cold. Her hair whipping back as she ran, just a few pricks of pink against the black and white of the woods. 

“Oh.” Pearl muttered to herself. “She’s beautiful.”

“What did you say?” Garnet asked. 

“Nothing, nothing.” Pearl replied, ducking her head to hide her shame as she went marching off after Rose. What did Garnet need to ask for anyway, surely she would already have known. 

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted as part of a multi chaptered 'advent fics' fic that I'm trying to split up. If you think you've read it before, you probably have
> 
> Comments on the previous posting of this fic (just ask if you want me to remove yours) include:
> 
> >Gay_and_Afraid: This really said gay rights oh my god  
> >>Merixcil: I always strive to say gay rights in everything I do
> 
> >jailor: I love this bit, the joys of life on earth  
> >>Merixcil: Thank you!


End file.
